Breeding Goats & Goat Health

Breeding

Oh, the joy of heat, rut, and breeding! Though the topic of breeding goats is large enough for volumes, I’ll try to keep it to the most important stuff here.

A doe in heat is usually quite obvious if you have a buck around! She will sometimes moan, groan, yell, flag (tail wag), and make a general nuisance of herself. She will often head-butt the other goats, jump on them like a dog, and be cranky to you, and more often than not have a very red butt! Vaginal discharge is common as well.

A buck in rut is quite comical, actually. They love to display their equipment, pee all over themselves, curl their lip, and make lots of unique noises. The peeing can cause blisters and sores on their noses and very red, irritated-looking eyes. Don’t despair, once your does are all bred, rut will be over and the snow and rain will clean away most of the gross, caked-up, yucky stuff on their faces and legs. If you are really obsessive, you can give your boys a bath. Good luck with that.

So, you have a doe in heat and a buck in rut, what now? Check a breeding calendar (see page 71) and make sure that the due date is something you can live with! If so, put them in together and mark down the date! If not, record the heat date and watch for another cycle of 18 to 21 days! Goats are pregnant for approximately 150 days.

A great thing to note here is that if you are planning a vacation, use the chart to make sure your doe won’t be giving the farmsitter an unexpected gift! These charts are great for helping you “plan ahead.”

Most bucks are extremely gentle to the does. If you have one that isn’t, get rid of him! Personality as well as “meatiness” are important factors in your breeding program. Our problems go to ”freezer camp” (also known as the “Processor”) rather than be sold to an unsuspecting buyer.

The bucks will whisper in the girls’ ears, kiss them, and mount them several times. Record this date and watch to see if the doe comes into heat again. This sometimes happens. A doe is in heat anywhere from 8 to 48 hours. But, please note, that every now and then you can have a doe whose heat cycle is even shorter than 8 hours, and if that short period of time occurs during the night, you can miss the cycle altogether!

At the very beginning of the breeding cycle the doe may not be receptive to the buck. If she is in “standing heat,” she will go into the pen, squat and pee for him, flag like crazy, and stand for him to mount her.

Some bucks and does are quite fussy about who they breed AND who they are bred with! We put the girls in several times during their cycle, because ovulation can occur anytime during that time period!

If the doe scrunches up during penetration, don’t worry. It just means the buck has penetrated her so deeply that he hit her cervix. This is not a problem and it doesn’t affect the outcome of the breeding. Also, this doesn’t have to happen for her to be bred.

Breeding Techniques

There are a couple different types of breeding. Below is a quick summary of each.

Inbreeding: mating mother to son, father to daughter, or full brother to full sister. This can maximize some really good traits, and also some really bad ones, so be careful what you do here. I do not recommend doing this type of breeding!

Line breeding: breeding half brother to half sister, granddaughter to grandfather, grandson to grandmother. These combinations work pretty well, especially the half brother to half sister! It seems to really maximize the good traits. We have had some amazing kids born from this type of mating.

Crossbreeding, or outbreeding, is crossing two unrelated animals that have characteristics you want to introduce to your flock. This is usually done between different blood lines or different breeds of goats. This type of breeding will produce a hybrid vigor. A good example of this would be to breed a Toggenburg doe with an Alpine buck. A fast-growing, healthy offspring is produced. We have also bred a Boer buck with our dairy does to produce fast-growing meat kids!

TIP: We have found over time that good recordkeeping is critical. We refer to our breeding charts from years past over and over again. They contain vital information, which is compiled all in one place! (See page 68 for charts to get you started.)

The Kidding Kit!

Everything you will need to successfully kid.

Disposable gloves – unless you like the feel of yucky stuff!

K-Y Jelly – please use the plain old K-Y Jelly, not scented or flavored! And nothing else works like good old K-Y, believe me! Please don’t use vegetable oil, mineral oil, or anything like that! It’s not made for this purpose!

7 percent iodine – there has been lots of talk about this being hard to get, but Jeffers still has something that can be used in its place that is just as effective. You need the strength of the 7 percent to dry up and close off the umbilical cord.

Small disposable cups – for dipping navels. We use the little containers that powdered drink mixes comes in; others have collected pill cups from hospitals or nursing homes. They just need to be small enough not to be wasteful and large enough to fit the umbilical cord in!

A little pad of paper and a pencil – pens don’t work in the cold. The pad is to note the ear tag number, the weight, gender, and other important information that you are sure to forget when you get in the house!

Your ear tagger and tags – much easier to do it right at birth, and have accurate weight records that match with the proper goat! It’s amazing how different the kids look the next morning! Oh, the horror stories I hear! Even to the point that someone didn’t know which kid belonged to which mother! See page 28 for more detailed tagging instructions.

Collar bands – these are used to identify dairy kids that would not be ear tagged at birth. They are plastic and easy to write on, so identification is easy.

Bo-Se and syringes – Bo-Se is selenium, and requires a prescription from your vet. Each kid gets 1/2 cc at birth. This has made a dramatic difference in the health of our kids and especially their strength! It helps to prevent white muscle disease and gives the babies a great start! Use 22-gauge, 3/4" Luar lock syringes.

You’ve Got to Be Kidding

99.9 percent of the time the whole kidding procedure will go smoothly, and it will progress in the following fashion:

Goats are like women in their pregnancy. Some get swollen legs, some get really cranky, and some moan and groan and complain. Others go through their pregnancy and you would never know they are pregnant! We had one Angora doe that we didn’t realize was even bred until spring shearing; the shearer flipped her over and lo and behold there was an udder forming!

How do you know when your goat is ready to deliver? Watch. The poor girl will get crankier as she gets closer. Some girls produce a lot of mucous. Some of it is stringy and can hang down quite a ways, even dragging on the ground. This is a sign that labor may take place in a short time or within a few days. Recordkeeping comes in really handy at this juncture, more about paperwork later. Our NanC goes 4 or 5 days with a drippy butt, and other goats do not have any mucous at all. Some of them, as soon as I see the mucous string, go into the kidding pen. This is especially true of Angoras.

Watch their udders. You will see changes as their delivery date nears. In some goats the udder will expand greatly (others will expand a few hours before delivery), and when labor is imminent it gets very big, solid feeling, and almost shiny in appearance.

Not all does do this, but one of the best indicators is calling. The doe will walk around looking like she is in a panic, searching for something. She will call out over and over again. Sometimes it’s a very soft call, sometimes a gentle talking to her belly, and sometimes a really loud yelling. She is calling to her baby, which hasn’t been born yet. This goat needs to be quickly put in her kidding pen. I’ve found this usually happens in the morning as you are getting ready to feed, as the goats are feeding, or shortly after eating. The girls enjoy eating first, birthing after.

A goat nearing labor will either eat like she’ll never see grain again or she will not have any appetite at all. Again, observe your goats ahead of time so that these changes are apparent to you.

Kinds of Kidding

There is a big difference in the labor and delivery of Angoras, dairy goats, and Boers. Angora’s seem to have a very quick labor with a delivery that I describe as stop, drop, and roll. The goat stops in her tracks, squats, and pushes out the baby, the baby rolls out, mom cleans it up, and she’s done!

Boers have more of a prolonged labor and need to do some pushing before the baby is born. Dairy goats fall somewhere in between. Please be aware that most dairy goats are not good mothers. They have not learned mothering because they were probably taken away at birth and bottle fed. Many of our dairy girls drop and run! The baby is born and they run away from it!

What to Actually Do in Labor

When we hear the sounds of labor beginning, we grab our “kit,” and off we go to the barn. You will know when a goat is in labor. Some goats get so cranky it’s amazing, and may even try to bite!

Your doe will sometimes call in what starts out as the same sounds you have been hearing and end with a pushing or straining sound. A water bubble might be visible and will usually break. She will get up, lie down, squat, get up, pee, lie down, and so on, so many times it will make you crazy.

We also have heat lamps ready for possible use, which here in Maine is nearly all the time! If you have a close relationship with your doe, she may not want to have her kids without you being around! They can hold back their labor for quite some time.

Once you see that the goat is actually in labor, you will want to put down clean hay in her pen and get your gloves on. DO NOT put your fingers or hands inside the goat unless absolutely necessary! If you have to do this, remember to give your doe a shot of antibiotic as soon as she is done kidding, even if it was just the tip of your finger! If it becomes evident that the doe needs some help, put some K-Y Jelly on your fingers and insert one finger and massage the orifice of the vulva gently from inside. This will usually relax and lubricate enough for the baby to slide out.

If a doe’s water breaks and there is no sign of a baby after one hour, you will need to go in and examine. Close your eyes and think about what you should be feeling; remember two front legs and a head. The usual problem in this case is that the head is turned toward the back end. You will have to push the baby back a little to get the head to face forward. If you should need to pull, and the doe is having contractions, pull with the contraction, in a downward and outward motion.

The usual position should be a nose between two little hoofs. This is, of course, the perfect position and it doesn’t always happen. (Don’t be alarmed if you see a little tongue hanging out of the kid’s mouth! They nearly always are born this way, and it’s really quite cute!)

There are always things that can go wrong. The main thing is DON’T PANIC!

If you are seeing two legs that look like back legs, don’t worry, the baby can be born this way, too. Quite often if the doe is having twins or triplets, the second baby may be born feet first. Of course, the doe is relaxed and stretched at this point, so the baby will pretty much slide out.

After the kids are born, they need to be cleaned and wiped down quickly. I usually bring the baby around to the front of mom and clean along with her licking. We work together to keep baby warm and get it dried off. If there is more than one kid, make sure both or all of the babies are kept in front of the doe. You certainly don’t want her to reject any of her babies if you'll be keeping them with their mom.

Be aware that sometimes kids are bright yellow when they are born. This will be more evident in the Angoras. They look like little yellow chicks! This is normal. It usually happens when a baby is a day or two overdue. The baby’s internal organs are beginning to function and the baby passes some of the meconium into the amniotic fluid, thus coloring it and the baby with it.

Once the babies are dried off, fill the small plastic cup with iodine and dip the first kid’s umbilical cord and navel area with the iodine. This will cauterize the area and also disinfect it. Simply, place the cup tightly over the umbilical cord stub and the belly button and turn the kid over slightly. The iodine will get all over the kid, don’t worry, it comes off! Please throw away the cup and use a new one for the next kid.

About 50 percent of the time, a goat’s teat will have a little waxy plug in the end of it, or over the orifice (more common in Angoras). This needs to be removed so the baby can nurse. By milking a small amount from each teat, you will be assured that the teat is free from this plug. If nothing comes out, gently scrape the end of the teat with your fingernail. In really drastic cases, warm cloths will help. Some kids can nurse the plug out, but others can’t, so always make sure you have taken this step.

Going back to the umbilical cord, sometimes the cord breaks by itself, other times you must help it break. Do this by shredding it with your fingernail. Never cut it.

We have a scale hanging in our barn most of the year. Once the baby is cleaned up really well, we put it in the large canvas bag (the one we keep all our “delivery” towels in,) hang it from the scale, and weigh it. (Make sure you calibrate your scale to minus out the weight of the bag!)

As for the bath towels, they are big and absorbent. You can wrap a kid up in them and keep them warm while being cleaned up. Also, they are washable. We shake them out really well to get rid of the hay stuck to them. I also try to pick off the larger pieces of mucous. Wash them in hot water with detergent and bleach and you’re good to go for the next round. I might mention here that iodine comes out in the wash.

Caring for Mom

So this is the progression that we use: DRY, DIP, TAG, SHOT, WEIGH, then MOM.

Once the babies are all set, this is the point where your doe needs some attention. She has done some hard work and needs a reward. We fill a small bucket with warm water and molasses (1 gallon of water, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of molasses). It gives the poor girl some extra energy, plus most of them love the taste. They are also very thirsty at this stage. If she did not eat at feeding time, I give her some grain. Always, always give clean hay.

During the three or four days that the doe is in her kidding pen, I will give her extra grain. About 1 1/2 times her normal ration. Our does typically get about one pound of 18 percent protein grain per day, so one and one-half pounds would be a good amount. After her seclusion time is over, if the pen is not in use by another goat, I do put mom and babies back in the pen at night and keep them in until after morning feeding time. This is done for two reasons: one, to protect the babies during feeding frenzy, and the other so that I can give a little extra grain to Mom. During the first few days, the babies are nursing a lot and taking a lot from Mom. It’s also at this time the babies will imitate mom and start nibbling on grain!

The Afterbirth

The afterbirth (placenta) usually will be delivered in an hour or two. (However, it can take up to 24 hours sometimes!) A placenta isn’t considered retained until after 12 hours. We did have a doe that did not deliver it for 2 days, but it certainly wasn’t a problem. Try to watch for it. We dispose of it in empty grain bags unless the doe decides to eat it. I know this is gross, but there are all kinds of nutrients and vitamins in the placenta that are good for the doe and help in her healing after birthing. It also contains hormones that trigger her milk production. Some will eat it and some most definitely will not.

DO NOT pull, tug, or in any way try to get the afterbirth out yourself. Let nature take its course.

Brrrr…Cold Kids

If it is cold out and you choose to use goat coats for your babies, make sure to rub the coat on Mom before putting it on. Also, put the coat on the kid in front of Mom! Make sure the babies are quite dry before you do this! If you notice that the baby is damp underneath, remove ASAP! Kids can die of pneumonia really quickly!

Goat Excrements

This is a bit on the gross side, but if you’re gonna have goats, you gotta know!

Mom will get a very yucky, crusty area on and around her tail. Once she is finished streaming (getting rid of what is left in her uterus), which can be up to a month, and it’s all dried up and cakey, you can trim it off with scissors. Some of it will pull off and parts will just brush off. It is best to clean her up when she is done streaming, especially in fly season!

Now let’s address the kids and their poop. The first poop is a black tar-like substance that hopefully Mom will clean up for you! Otherwise, it’s difficult to clean up. Warm water and a good butt soak will work nicely to soften and loosen up this gooey substance. I also use baby shampoo if necessary.

Once the meconium (black poop) passes, the next bowel movements will be bright yellow, about the same color as yellow mustard. This is sticky and messy also! Mom will usually clean this up, too, but if she doesn’t, you will have to. I emphasize HAVE to. If this yellow poop cakes over the anal opening, it will get hard and make it impossible for the little one to have a bowel movement. This will eventually cause death. Through the years, I have found this is more of a problem with Angoras than with any other breeds. I think it’s more difficult for the mom to clean up all those little curls around the butt area.

Most of the time you can pull off the stuck-on mess, other times it will take a butt soak.

Moms and Kids

Once you’ve taken care of the essential kidding procedures, for Pete’s sake, leave the doe and her new kid alone. DON’T OBSESS! Leave her alone! Just because you don’t see the baby nurse doesn’t mean the baby isn’t nursing. Don’t stand there and watch, you’ll just make the mom nervous! If she’s a first-time mom, and you’re concerned that the kid hasn’t nursed yet, check the baby after an hour or so. Stick your little finger in the baby’s mouth and see if it’s warm. If it is, the kid is nursing! If the mom is a seasoned mom, she knows what to do, believe me!

If the kid is yelling, then, for heaven’s sake, see if you can attach it to the teat! Once they nurse they’ll find it again. But please wait a while. Some moms won’t want to nurse until the afterbirth is delivered.

These little relationships are very important. We feel that splitting mom and kids apart causes depression and general unhappiness. Kids that are sent off to new farms without a kid of its own age to bond with are picked on by the new herd, and definitely ostracized.

Leaving two buddies together or sending a mom and her daughter, or neutered son, is so much less stressful! We do what we do for our goats, not for our customers.

A Doe’s Secret Code of Honor

Some time ago I read a little article called the “Doe’s Secret Code of Honor,” author unknown. When I sat down to write this I decided to share with you the Secret Code of Honor at Stony Knolls Farm. All of our girls are in cahoots and had kept this a secret for quite a while, until I finally figured it out! Here is my goats’ secret code passed from mother to daughter:

1. If you are ready to kid any day, the honor of all goats is in your hands. Use this time to avenge all of your barnmates. Think about your friends who had to wear silly hats or antlers for Christmas-card photos, posed for calendar pictures, or how about Halloween, did any of your humans dress you up in unthinkable costumes?

2. When you hear the words, “I can’t take it any more, she’s never going to kid!” wait three more days.

3. When you hear the words, “She’s nowhere near ready to kid, we can go to (fill in the blank),” wait until your humans are all cleaned up, dressed up, and ready to get in the car, then give a good scream and start pushing.

4. For every baby monitor, camera, bell, beeper, or whatever your humans are using to keep tabs on your due date, delay delivery by one day. If they are using audio, one good groan per hour will keep them on their toes!

5. You must keep the end-of-pregnancy waiting game interesting! False alarms are mandatory. Little things like looking at your food as if it were gross, digging a little with your hoofs to make a nice nest, and turning your head and talking to your stomach will always get a rise out of your owners!

6. Here is a really important one: Figure out when your owners get ready to go to bed, when they get up, when they shower, and especially when they sit down to a meal. This cannot be allowed! And, don’t ever let them use the bathroom in peace. A huge pushing scream (fake one that is) will get them out to the barn in record time. Make sure you look up at them with big innocent eyes at this point!

7. Feeding time, when all of your friends are really hungry is a great time to go into real labor! Really make a fuss, so that only half the feed pans have been filled, water buckets are all empty, the barn is in chaos because everyone is hungry and need to be milked, and are using their loudest voices to let your owners know they are hungry or full of milk. Take your time, relax, and enjoy how crazy you are making your humans!

8. Start off with a screaming push if you realize your owner is half dressed. Its fun to see them running to the barn and trying to get dressed at the same time, especially if it’s below zero!

9. Make sure you never look “that far along”! That way you can have your kids outside and really start a scramble! The best time to do this is when your owner is half dressed and he/she tucks your new slimy baby into their jacket only to find that they threw the jacket on over an unbuttoned pajama top. It’s really fun!

10. Make the most of your pregnancy. Beg for food every time there is any human in sight. Your barnmates will love you for this one!

11. This one applies whether you are pregnant or not. Only get your head stuck in the hay feeder when the weather is at its worst, or it’s nighttime, otherwise it’s really not as much fun. As your owner fumbles with the screwdriver, make sure you look up with your big brown eyes and let them know how appreciative you are.

12. When you are in heat, act like a shameless hussy. Drive those boys to distraction. This will drive your humans to distraction, too!

Now remember, girls, this was designed to drive your human owners crazy. It will gently remind him/her how special goats really are, especially when you present them with a beautiful doeling who you can secretly teach the code to future generations!